When it comes to your fitness goals, do you find yourself teetering between staying lean and bulking up? If so, you’re like so many others out there.
Many people have a tendency to cut down during the spring months, getting shredded and ready for beach season. Then, they go to the other end of the spectrum and bulk up in the winter, packing on body weight since its easier to cover it up, and hoping it will build more muscle mass.
But, is this really the best way? Is having a bulking and cutting season ideal? The simple answer is no. Here are four reasons to focus on staying lean year-round.
4 Reasons to Stay Lean
1. You’ll build muscle better
Many people have this mistaken belief that you have to put on body fat in order to build quality muscle.
While we can’t say that you will ever be able to only build 100% pure lean muscle mass, as some fat gain is usually going to happen when you build muscle. However, the simple fact is that there is no need to go overboard.
You definitely do not need to significantly raise your body fat percentage in order to build muscle. In fact, doing so can work against you.
The leaner you are, the better your insulin sensitivity level will be, and this can translate to you gaining a higher percentage of muscle mass as opposed to fat mass.
With 1 gram of L-carnitine per scoop, you’ll be sure that your fat loss is being utilized each training session with the 3-in-1 fat burner, nitric oxide booster, pre-workout combo Nitrosurge SHRED by Jacked Factory.
It also contains all the of the other necessary ingredients at effective dosages that you need to optimize muscle building during your workout.
2. It’s less stressful on the body
Another good reason to stay lean year round is that it’s less stressful on the body. Yo-yoing back and forth is taxing on your system. It’s hard on your heart, your joints, and it can also be problematic for your metabolism as well.
Instead, try and slowly gain weight when building muscle and slowly losing weight when it’s time to drop a few pounds.
The more constant you can keep your body weight at a relatively lean state, the better.
3. Your confidence will increase
Let’s face it, for most of us, when we see our abs disappearing, it does a number on our self-confidence levels. Gaining fat is never a desirable thing so simply strive to avoid it.
People often use the excuse they have to gain fat to build muscle so they can go off on their diet and eat whatever they want.
While this may be nice for a few days or a week, eventually, the excess fat gain is going to impact how you feel about yourself.
For some, it may even make them throw in the towel altogether if they become very dissatisfied with their body and don’t feel like their hard work is paying off.
There’s something to be said for seeing great muscle definition at the gym and having that motivate you to keep up your program.
4. You’ll avoid picking up bad habits
Finally, by staying lean year-round, you’ll avoid picking up on bad habits. If you go into ‘bulk’ mode, you may get sloppy with your eating.
You may start indulging in foods you shouldn’t, neglecting to track your macros, and failing to get on board with meal prep.
Develop these bad habits, and they can be hard to shake when it comes time to getting lean again.
So rethink your classic cut and bulk cycles. A better option is really to just focus on staying lean year round and make progress towards your main goal, whether that be building muscle or cutting, very slowly.
